This edition of thecages[1] comes to you from Toronto where we are visiting with Marce, Gen + Jules.
First a disclaimer, I feel that this blog is turning into a bit of a travelogue of ‘here’s me in front of the eifel tower’, ‘here’s me smoking a hookah on a beach in Bali’ – but the reality is that, right now, that is what I’m doing.
But fear not! I’m preparing some hard-hitting investigative navel gazing for the new year so do not despair news hounds, thecages hasn’t gone soft on you!
OK, here we go, on with the armchair travel.
We arrived last nite on the Amtrak Maple Leaf which took us from NYC Penn Station through upstate New York across the border at Niagra Falls and into CDN.

Amtrak Maple Leaf

After 4 sensory overloading days in Manhattan we spent the day reading, snoozing and making a go of playing Fluxx[2].

Manhattan was both familiar and amazing at the same time. I think it is impossible to come to a place that so saturates popular culture without hyping or judging it in advance; and it is remarkable that it survived whatever my expectations of it might have been at all.
Let’s not fuck around; Manhattan is on a massive scale and even in the holiday quiet time[3] is a constant throb of urban life.

I think it will take some time to digest our days in NYC and for anecdotes and memories to surface from the cold winter blast over the Hudson river and into my skull.
In the meantime, here is an NYC eye.

Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

Times Square

Wollman Rink in Central Park

What has struck me as an immediate kick in the gut is what turned into our worried mantra on the Maple Leaf: where’s the snow? Where is the snow? It’s Christmas, where is the snow?
The rail journey brought home the most tangible sign of rapid global warming I’ve yet experienced.
The US local media discreetly avoided the issue saying silly things like ‘Well, maybe Santa will be bringing some snow with him along with his usual load of presents’.
This is the first December since 1897[4]
From what we’re told there’s a more serious attitude to it in Canada and people are talking about it all over.
In the southern hemisphere we’re more prone to cyclical droughts and so haven’t felt such a visceral effect from global warming to date[5], but here the effects are immediate and undeniable. Is it too late? I don’t think so, but I do think that it’s going to get really ugly really quickly and unfortunately Africa’s diagnosed symptom kills painfully and slowly.

To be fair, this morning the temperature suddenly dropped and the first flurries appeared, by midday there was a fine layer of snow on the flowerbeds outside our windows, but by 4pm most of this has melted again.
And so the snow might finally have arrived with us on the Maple Leaf, but the fact is that the climate is shifting, we just don’t know how far it will go.

[1] sponsored by General Aphasia
[2] I’ve already started modifying the rules
[3] Apparently many New Yorkers head out of town in the run up to Christmas as they visit families or go skiing
[4] I speak under correction here, but we’re talking late 19th century
[5] Though the effects are no less dire

Aaargh! I’ve just realised that I will be missing a revolutionary/anarchist protest in NYC tommorrow!

I will be ensconced in the comfort of an economy-class aeroplane seat, high above the atlantic, sipping on soem random fruit juice from a plastic cup while the masses SHUT DOWN WALL STREET!

NYMMAA

The New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists reports:

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release Contact: Public Relations (718) 398-1766

POLICE MURDER PROTESTS INTENSIFY DAY OF OUTRAGE! SHUT DOWN WALL STREET!

“Black Thursday,” December 21, 2006 at 12:00PM
Chase Bldg, Liberty & Nassau St, Downtown NYC

New York – As grassroots community organizers intensify their protest against the police murder of unarmed Sean Bell and attempted murder of his unarmed friends Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, the Wall Street financial district is in the crosshairs. A “Day of Outrage” is slated for “Black Thursday” December 21, 2006 at 12 PM. The masses will assemble in front of the Chase Building at Liberty and Nassau Streets, Downtown, NYC to “Shut Down Wall Street.”

The protest was originally scheduled for Friday but intelligence sources have informed the group that the NY Stock Exchange would close early on that day for the holiday weekend. Therefore the date has been moved up to Thursday, December 21st.

“No more business as usual. Our demands are clear. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly must go! The head of the Organized Crime Bureau, Anthony Izzo must go! The cops involved in this murder must be indicted, prosecuted, and go straight to jail,” declared spokesman Omowale Clay.

The Wall Street protest will be led by the December 12th Movement and the Black Men’s Movement

I am by no means socialist in my orientation, but I would really, really have liked to be there – just to feel the activism in my suburban bones.
Who knows whether the ‘masses’ will actually show up – but my heart is with them, not because I think that they will turn the worm; just because they are DOING something. Do it!

Insanity abounds as we prepare to leave for NYC and Canada tonite.

The last week has been a bottomless pit of logistical arrangements. Frankly, I’ve not picked up one ounce of yuletide joy or even a sprinkle of that much vaunted christmas spirit.
I just want to get on the frckn plane, drop some melotonin and wake up in the back of a cab crossing the Brooklyn bridge[1].

I have, however, put together a second annual xmas compilation in the form of xmas 06 (Death Rollercoaster).

I feel like I should say something about the year past.
It’s been insane, the world is insane. Next year will be even more so.
It’s now now now, if you’re not hot hot hot you’re fucked.
Who knew the world would go this crazy this fast? How much more crazy will it get?
History tells us that we have no idea and as long as I can remind myself of this historical truth I think I’ll be ok.

Happy fucking holidays.

[1] little chance of that happening as we have a 6 hour stop over on Heathrow. whoopee.

After wrestling with several automated downloading tools etc. etc. I’ve managed to collect a, hopefully, complete set of posts from http://thecages.blogspot.com.

These are now available from the blogspot archives.
What I now need to do is to add a little search engine to these.
Here are some highlights from the bloggo-days:

There has been some really arb. crap like Undies and Yaaow.
There’s also been brain farting like my extended look into ((a+1)^a) = (a^(a+1)) through the eyes of a mathematical illiterate in a1a-vs-aa1, a1a-aa1 and 2.2931662874118610315080282912508058643.

And in between the politics and the art and the music and the general time wastage there’s even been some mild blasphemy.

Ha ha – I just love the internet! What a miracle of modern science! What a glorious trap for suckers! Here’s former US congressman Tom Delay who, after being forced to resign his political office due to corruption charges, has decided to make a comeback of public life with his blog at http://www.tomdelay.com. Unfortunately he didn’t keep reckoning with the viciousness of the Blogosphere.

TomDeLay.com

Here’s his entry from Sunday, December 10, 2006

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to TomDeLay.com and thank you for visiting my new blog. Over the course of my political life I have learned many things, one of which is that not all good ideas come from Washington, D.C.. In fact I think that most of the best ideas come from concerned citizens from all over The United States.

Unfortunately, many D.C. insiders are simply incapable of looking outside the capital beltway for fresh opinions and new approaches that might otherwise help our nation.

I have created this blog in order to provide Americans with a new meeting place where such opinions and viewpoints might be better shared, discussed and debated; a place where conservative and traditionalist Americans might speak truth to power and to one another.

In all honesty, I did not fully realize the impact or potential of the blogosphere until very recently, when Red State gave me the opportunity to post some of my observations in the wake of the recent midterm elections. The response I received was overwhelming, and I would like to again thank the fine people at that site.

Within minutes he started receiving comments as follows:

Such unmitigated gall.
Your 3 First Principles “Order, Justice, and Freedom” obviously don’t include Honesty, Integrity, or Ethics. I particularly like the way the House Ethics Committee chairman, Joel Hefley, was removed after rebuking you 3 times. Yes, he was replaced by Delay groupie Doc Hastings, with a couple other groupies connected with your PAC. Sorta make sure no more untoward rebukes occur.

It’s good that you’re no longer a Representative; the stench of the 109th Congress will take a long time to fix.

December 10, 2006 | Unregistered Commenter Wilbur

YOUR ARE A FUCKING DISGRACE TO THE IDEAS OF GOLDWATER. CRAWL BACK INTO A HOLE YOU TURD!

December 10, 2006 | Unregistered Commenter Clayton Hutchinson

What a magnificently, terrifically boring and irrelevant blog. Honestly, who on earth cares what you have to say?

December 10, 2006 | Unregistered Commenter Miles Coverdale

etc. etc. It also seems the he doesn’t quite have a handle on what it means to allow unregistered comments:

OK, fuck all you critics,

December 10, 2006 | Unregistered Commenter Tom Delay

Now here’s the funny part. Upon noticing that his blog was actually doing what he said he wanted it to, to wit ‘I have created this blog in order to provide Americans with a new meeting place where such opinions and viewpoints might be better shared’, he promptly shut the motherfucker down and went about sanitizing the comments to leave only the good stuff. The comments now include hard hitting observations such as:

Just saw you on Fox! You looked and sounded great! Best of luck.

December 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterLynda Mixon

Dear Tom DeLay, may I say, we have missed you. Just your presence on the Web has given me a sense of security. There are many of us that know the Democrats lied and forced you out but, you will have your day! In the meantime, we are here and waiting to help. If we pull together and stay together, we can defeat these Liberals that are ruining our country. God be with you, just tell us what we can do.

December 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterDani Triplett

Tom – I’m glad you’ve jumped in to the blogosphere. I’m so tired of the fabian socialist propaganda the drive-by media passes off as “news”. Eventually, the left will meet overwhelming defeat, when we the people unite. December 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterVic Boling I am glad that you are doing this, i am intereste din your thoughts.

December 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterScull Factor

Phew! Disaster averted nes pas? Well, not quite. As is always the case with the internext there is a mirror of the original at http://www.tomdelaydotcom.blogspot.com/ which retains every nasty original comment. The question is this; how long before Delay pressures Google into taking down this blog? What grounds will he possibly use to push for such a removal? Defamation? Copyright? Being a person of high standing?